


duckling

by n3s0



Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Cara | CaptainPuffy-centric, Clay | Dream-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Gen, Oneshot, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), this was from an ask i got on tumblr that i thought i'd put here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29229429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n3s0/pseuds/n3s0
Summary: She wonders, distantly, if should could've prevented all of this if she wasn't so blind. It doesn't matter now, no time for what if's as she treks through the prison to visit the man she used to see as a friend.orCaptain Puffy visits Dream in prison.
Relationships: Cara | CaptainPuffy & Clay | Dream
Comments: 8
Kudos: 107





	duckling

**Author's Note:**

> TW for mentions of manipulation. this is pretty tame content-wise, it's just sad.  
> Also, this was written directly after the Jan 20th streams, so before we got to see what the prison looked like inside, so it's a little inaccurate.

It started out as a joke if Puffy was being honest. Dream had followed her around one day, carrying extra supplies for her, listening to stories of her old pirate adventures, and helping her with her daily tasks. She’d later find out that he was having a really terrible week, stressed from events he wouldn’t disclose (she’d later find out about those “events” as well, to her disgust) and not wanting to talk to anyone but needing something to occupy himself. Puffy joked around, calling him her “duckling” and let him continue doing it. It helped her and him, so she found no harm in it.

Months passed with their small routine. Dream would have a bad day or simply not want to be around the others (Puffy would, again, find out later that it was more that others didn’t want to be around _him_ ) so he would follow her around, helping out with her daily tasks or just spending the day with her. It reminded her so much of one of the younger boys on her long-abandoned crew, cured a small amount of homesickness, and slowly it became less of a joke and more of a true friendship. The day Dream slipped up and called her mom, even though she’s only two years older, used to be one of her favorite memories. Emphasis on _used_ to be. 

She was hesitant when she heard rumors of Dream’s villainy. This was Dream they were talking about, the kind guy who came to her when he had a bad day and helped her with anything she asked. She saw him build up those walls around L’manberg, and she heard the murmurs of how he wouldn’t let anyone go see Tommy in his exile, but she passed them off as hyperbolic or flat out lies. She wonders if she was more attentive to what Dream was doing could she have prevented some of this pain. She doesn’t think she’ll ever recover from seeing Dream, her duckling, seconds away from killing a child and further traumatizing another. 

“We’re here,” Sam tells her solemnly as she hears pistons move and unties her blindfold. She could care less about how the cell looked, or how impressive the redstone was. All she could focus on was Dream, standing close to the glass, looking terrible. His mask was gone, showing his emotions clear as day. His eyes screamed sadness and anger and betrayal all in one. His hair was tangled and there was still some blood matted in it from where Tommy had fought him. His shirt was wrinkled and he didn’t even have any shoes. He was simply stood looking heartbroken and entirely human in this cell and it took every ounce of willpower in Puffy to not cry to Sam to let him out. He looks nothing like the monster who manipulated and controlled others, he looked like her Dream, her duckling, her _friend._

“Dream…” Puffy starts but the words die on her tongue. 

“Puffy, please,” Dream starts and without the mask, she can see tears welling in his eyes, “I know it looks bad but you know how bad these past months have been for me, you’ve always been there for me, you have to understand.” 

“I don’t…” the air in the room feels suffocating, “Dream I saw it with my own eyes. I saw it with my own eyes. how could you?” She watches as anger overrides Dream’s eyes but a mournful look still stays on his face.

“Puffy, _C_ _ara_ , you know me,” Puffy can’t hold back her sob when Dream uses her real name. The only other person she told that was Niki, and after their recent fight over what to do with Tommy, she really didn’t want to think about Niki right now. “You know I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have a reason. I’m doing what’s right, I’m making sure there’s no more fighting. You’re smart, you _know_ me, I wouldn’t do this.” 

Puffy looks at Sam who looks an awful combination of guilty, furious, and depressed. Sometimes she forgets Sam has been here since the beginning. She wonders if Dream has always been evil, if he was always this manipulative, in the beginning. She wonders if she could've saved him.

“When you would help me,” Puffy starts, still not looking at Dream, “when you were my _duckling_ , was that just a cover? Was that just you trying to use me, too?” She turns back to meet Dream’s eyes, the mask no longer there to hide the way his eyes scream that he’s lying. His face is a dead giveaway for what he’s doing, Puffy wonders if that’s why he always wore the mask. 

“No, Cara,” dream lies through his teeth, “I’d never use you, I promise. You have to believe me.” 

The three of them stand in silence, Dream leaning on the glass with fake tears in his eyes and real tears in Puffy’s. Sam is deathly quiet in the corner of the room, watching and not intervening. Puffy can’t tell if she appreciates that or not. What she can tell is that she can’t stand to look at Dream another minute. 

“I really did care about you, Dream,” she wipes her tears on her sleeve and turns to Sam, “I’m done.” Sam just nods and leads Puffy towards the exit. 

“Puffy, please! I wouldn’t do this, don’t you see it!” Dream pleads, voice morphing from sorrow to anger, “I did what I had to! Puffy listen to me! _Cara!_ ” 

Sam still says nothing as he sets a steadying hand on Puffy’s shoulder as she sobs, guiding her out of the prison and away from her duckling. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was from an ask I got on tumblr that was "everyones first visit to dream in the prison (specifically puffy, sapnap, punz, george, and/or niki)" and I really liked what I wrote for Puffy so I decided to post it here. I also answered it for George and Sapnap but I'm not as happy with that one lol. If you want to read that one it's on my tumblr fl0ating-tree under the fanfic tag!


End file.
